Pillow
by TheAUWalker
Summary: Spirit wondered if Stein even knew that it was Christmas. SteinxSpirit, one-shot, Christmas fic for Lialane Graest. Fluff :3


**A/N: Christmas fic for Lialane Graest! :3**

**-o-o-o-**

Most people described fifteen year old Franken Stein as cold and unfeeling.

The silver-haired meister was a genius, knowing practically everything there was to know in medical science. It was rather ironic that his soul-shaping wavelength contrasted so deeply with his personality.

Stein did not have many friends.

There was Yumi Azusa(if you could really qualify the two as friends) who Stein would see and considered her on his intellectual level. Marie Mjolnir who was a bit too loud for his taste but was beginning to tolerate her prescene. Mira Nygus and Sid Barrett, a smart weapon-meister pair that were enjoyable to talk to.

And then there was Spirit Albarn, Stein's meister.

Spirit was...different. He had slept with mostly every girl in the school(and a few of the boys, too) and went through relationships like a change of clothes. He was loud, wasn't devoted to his studies could be arrogant, a bit of an idiot.

Stein should not like him and it was true that he spent as much time away from the scythe as possible.

But they had to live together, they had to see each other, and slowly, the boys became friends.

It was painful, sometimes, for a reason unknown, that he would see Spirit with all these girls. The weapon would come home drunk, women on his arm, and Stein would quietly shut his bedroom door and listen for the occasional crash of dishware from the kitchen.

There would be high-pitched giggles, too, and Stein did not dare come out until they were either gone or asleep.

Stein's lips were always thinly pressed together after these nights but Spirit did not seem to notice. It was terribly distracting and annoying for the boy who was the top of his grade.

He'd place his head in his hands because yes, Stein did find Spirit annoying.

Their friendship and partnership almost snapped several times, and bent under great strain, but did not break.

What Stein had with Spirit was something else entirely, something different, something no one else had in a bond.

Both felt it, but neither could find words to explain it.

-o-o-o

It sounded like something straight out of a novel or a movie, almost cliche, almost unbelievable.

They had fought(no, that was not the weird part) about him, Stein. Spirit started it as a simple concerned remark and his meister snapped. It turned into yelling and a few things were thrown, a few books were slammed, and their relationship was tense.

It was on a Monday and all week, they had not spoken.

Spirit's concerns involved his meister staying up so late and not eating, not getting out enough. Stein blew up at him and was now furious.

Stein locked himself up, only leaving his room when Spirit wasn't around the apartment.

But at night Spirit would pick up a bobby pin a girl had left on his floor and pick the lock, silently opening the door to check on his meister. Miraculously, he wasn't caught.

The week passed and Stein did not speak.

When he was seen around the DWMA he looked troubled, hands in his coat pockets and mind somewhere else. He was absent, distracted, twirling pencils in his fingers and sketching on his notes.

Christmas was Saturday.

The whole week went by and people laughed about it, talked and talked and planned but Stein was quiet and Spirit would watch him from across the classroom(they no longer sat together) and wonder if he even knew.

Stein, already working on his next term's paper, did not notice when Spirit left, out to go Christmas shopping and came back with a small tree and armfuls full of bags.

Thursday came and went.

It was Friday, Christmas Eve, and the DWMA was decorated merrily for the next day's holiday, but even then, even when the teacher wished them a merry Christmas, Stein was tapping his pencil, chin in hand, staring at some spot on the floor.

Spirit was riddled with guilt.

He'd never seen his meister in such a state, so distracted. It had been his fault, he was the one who disrupted Stein's routine, and now it was like something shifted between them and Stein wouldn't talk to him.

But Spirit was worried for his meister. He barely slept, barely ate unless Spirit forced him to, studied every waking minute, and was as pale as death.

Christmas Eve, the bobby pin wiggled in the lock.

Stein's head was resting on his arms, mouth slightly open, fast asleep on his textbooks.

Papers were scattered around the desk and Spirit moved forward quietly, tugging at a paper so Stein wouldn't drool on it. A mug of coffee sat near the lamp, cold and nearly empty, so Spirit picked it up, the spoon clinking against the side of the mug.

He watched his meister sleep peacefully for a few minutes, an expression of almost sadness on Spirit's face.

Spirit shut the door and took the mug to the kitchen sink.

He did not care if Stein knew he had been in his room. Spirit wouldn't be surprised if Stein already figured it out(the weapon had no way to lock the door again when he went out).

With a resigned sigh, Spirit looked at the twinklling lights on the small tree and went to bed.

-o-o-o

Stein awoke with a start to the smell of food sizzling in the kitchen, wincing at the pain in his neck, shoulders, and back.

He really had to stop falling asleep like that.

The teen rubbed his head and pushed open the door.

"Merry-"

"Senpai."

Spirit looked up from the pan full of bacon.

"Yeah?"

Stein waited until Spirit came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron.

"What is it?"

Spirit was searching his face, eyes full of concern and worry and it made Stein's heart ache.

"I'm...sorry for yelling, senpai."

"Stein-"

"I just...I've been thinking, and I have something to tell you."

The silver-haired meister swallowed hard and avoided Spirit's eyes.

"Just...before I say it, I've never said anything like this before, and senpai, I was running tests to make sure and I've just never known what it's like-"

"Stein." Spirit said softly.

Stein blinked.

"Ah. Sorry."

Spirit almost took a step back. Stein never apologized. Even over a small thing like rambling, he never apologized.

Something was up.

"I just...I think I'm in love with you, senpai." Stein said quietly.

Immediately Spirit understood why Stein hadn't wanted to tell him-he was sweating, shaking, and had obviously never done this before. Hell, it was possible that who the meister just confessed to wasn't even gay.

Stein was watching him, eyes full of fear, but yet he was defiant, daring Spirit to laugh.

But Spirit would never laugh at Stein, because he had been scared Stein would laugh at him.

"Looks like you beat me to it."

It took Stein a moment to process his weapon's words and realize what he meant. Spirit recognized the moment because Stein's eyes widened.

Stein's hand latched around Spirit's wrist, dragging the weapon forward and crashing their lips together.

Needless to say, neither of them were the type to stand still.

In a few minutes, havoc had been wrecked upon the poor kitchen. Plates and cups were swept to the floor, and(mercifully) the only thing left untouched was the sizzling pan of bacon.

There was a knock on the front door and the two teenagers barely heard it, but Spirit escaped from his meister long enough to wrench the door open.

"Yes?" He panted, and Mira Nygus raised an eyebrow.

"Merry Christmas, Spirit." She said, and shoved a purple-wrapped present into his arms.

She pushed past him, Sid, Marie, and Azusa following, all throwing or tossing their presents at the weaon(for the exception of Marie, she placed hers gently on the table) and strolled into the kitchen.

"Stein, what are you doing on the floor?"

The silver-haired meister looked up at them hazily from the ground and blinked.

"Oh, hello."

"Seriously, what are you doing down there?"

Mira cast a suspicious glance at Spirit as Sid reached down to help Stein up.

"Sweet Death, what came through your kitchen?"

Their eyes all shifted to the mess, and then, the still innocently sizzling pan of bacon, the only thing untouched during the apparent hurricane.

"I guess we're having bacon for breakfast..." Marie trailed off.

-o-o-o

Stein thrusted a hastily-wrapped present into Spirit's arms in the middle of the Christmas movie they were for some reason watching in the middle of the night.

"I thought you said..."

"Well, I got one, didn't I, senpai?"

"You sure did." Spirit muttered, and began to unwrap it, a little nervous about what the present might be.

Once he pulled aside the gray wrapping paper, a red teddy bear fell onto his lap.

Spirit was suprised for a minute that it wasn't stitched, but then he remembered that Stein had to run out and get it. He suspected that once he left it unattended, it would reappear stitched.

Stein wasn't looking at him.

"It's stupid."

"No, it's not." Spirit said softly. "It's adorable, Stein. Thank you."

He could see his meister's cheeks tint lightly red.

"Here's yours."

Spirit handed Stein a much larger present wrapped in red and green, quite light. The silver-haired meister opened it to reveal a large white pillow.

"Senpai?"

"I was hoping you'd start sleeping more."

Stein stared at his weapon for a single, silent minute, and then chuckled.

"Thanks."

"Promise me you'll use it." Spirit said seriously.

"I promise, senpai."

Stein's green eyes met Spirit's blue ones, half of both their faces lit up by the television screen.

"Spirit?"

In an instant, Spirit's hand was around the back of Stein's shoulders, and he brought their lips together with a cocky grin.

"You don't even need to ask."


End file.
